Iron Willed
by Sanji Himura
Summary: A real Eva Ironman crossover. The Legacy of Iron Man is carried on. CHAPTER 7 UP!
1. Chapter 1

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**Sanji Himura Presents **

**An Evangelion/Iron Man crossover**

**Iron Willed**

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As a man of many talents, industrialist and inventor Tony Stark has lived the good life, for what it was. Mortally injured from a mine that was in the minefield that protected the headquarters of guerrilla Wong-Chu, the piece of shrapnel that no doctor could pull out without killing him was a reminder that he wasn't invincible, nor that he had a silver spoon in his mouth. Teaming up with the spiritualist Ho Yensin, he built a chest plate that preserved his life, expanding it into the first suit of Iron Man, transforming himself into his greatest invention. After escaping from Wong-Chu's grasp, he later expanded the armor into many incarnations for many uses, and eventually creating the War Machine armor that his closest friend Jim Rhodes constantly used.

But he was getting old, and with age comes slowness, reflexes are not as sharp, and he was becoming more fragile. With the shrapnel coming ever so closer to his heart, the time has come for him to choose a successor to the mantel of 'The Invincible Iron Man'.

His telepresence suit will only keep going for only so long and that will eventually be destroyed, either by gunfire or on a dangerous mission to the bottom of the sea.

Tony Stark turned his hover wheel chair away from the New York skyline that he was looking at. The technology for the chair itself was studied and reconstructed from Charles Xavier's own chair that was given to him by an alien race that was one of many he encountered and could have forgotten. Moving to his desk, three folders were waiting for him. Three infant boys were described in the paper in the folders, complete with a genetic markup that was unknowingly taken at birth. The folders themselves were a sight to behold. Red and gold aligned the folder, and with the folders closed from prying eyes, Stark could think about his successor in his own thoughts.

The folder on the left belonged to a boy in Ireland. He knew the grandfather as the second Guardsman, and managed not to kill him when he confronted the Mandarin in China. However, given the instability that the Guardsman armor proved on him, Stark tried to set aside this candidate.

The second folder belonged to a boy in Russia. The parents of this candidate has a strong sense of national honor, however investigation also proved deadly. In essence, they had no past.

The third folder contained a file that was as large that was sizable compared to the other two. The father, a vagabond that was rather cocky, but had a silver spoon in his mouth much like he was before he got blown up. The mother was smart and kind, working for a research organization called GERIN. Both appeared to have loved one another, and their son's DNA was sent to him this morning. Strong genetics and he has potential for greatness.

Tony rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before picking up the phone to make the most valued decision of his short life. "Pepper," he said with a ragged and strained voice before hanging up. Looking at his desk, he quickly moved the other two folders off his desk, making his decision.

An old lady, her appearance suggested that she was no older than 50, made the long trek to his desk.

"So you have made a decision, have you Stark," no other words were spoken, nor needed as Pepper Potts picked up the folder that would create the second Iron Man. Quietly leaving him to his own devices, Pepper carried out his last wishes as it relates to Iron Man.

Tony Stark sat in his chair as the shrapnel made the short distance to his heart, killing him. His eyes closed, as if he was ready for it.

**Author's Notes:**

Yes, this is for real. A genuine Eva\Iron Man crossover. I will say that the story will ignore the Civil War completely. Why? Because this story will take place using the old(60s-70s) story line(except the presence of the telepresence suit, witch appeared in Iron Man #290).

Next Time: Fourteen years later, the successor to Iron Man's mantel will finally get told the truth about everything that has been going on around him, and a given chance to do something about it.

**Statistics:**

Total Content Word Count: 649


	2. Chapter 2

"Why do I get my self into this shit," a man spoke. This man was one of your regular lawyer types, dressed in a black pin striped suit with a clean, pressed white suit with a black tie that appears to be seamed into the shirt. "Every time I go into one of these foreign countries, something always goes wrong."

"Because it is your job," another man spoke. Unlike the man sitting next to him, he was dressed in standard military fatigues that came from the Vietnam era. His gray hair and black skin would have confirmed it to people who didn't know him.

"I know, Mr. Rhodes, but this one in particular gives me the creeps, and the Ikari kid that we are to pick up just creeps me out even more."

Jim Rhodes closed his eyes in an attempt to tune him out. If need be, he still had a lot of clout with the UN during his time as War Machine in the Avenger's West Coast team, and he wasn't afraid to use it either. He used it to get the contract to build the weapons that the Evangelions used in their battles with the Angels, and more importantly, if he found their use that was to the dislike of the company, he had full legal authority to pull out of the contract and take the weapons with them. He also conducted full "inspections" to ensure their proper use.

"Will you can it? If NERV would allow him to go freely then the Evas would keep their weapons, it is as simple as that."

"Yes, sir."

The rest of their flight to Japan was in silence. As it was stated in the late Tony Stark's will, Shinji Ikari was to receive the Iron Man armor in New York at the age of 14, and training on how to use it under Jim Rhodes. In the mean while, Stark Enterprises would be held in trust under him until he becomes of age. The time had come for him to get the armor.

The private jet landed in Tokyo-2 with a private limo waiting for the pair to take them to Tokyo-3, and the heir to the Stark fortune. Unlike other trustees, Jim Rhodes actually knew how to honor a dead friend's memory, and made the company more profitable than ever, ready for Ikari to take over in the green.

"Mr. Rhodes, are you sure you know what you are doing," the stuck up lawyer asked him.

"Yes, Mr. Martin, I do," Jim answered back, annoyed at the man, "why do you ask?"

"We are being tailed." True enough, a black ford Crown Victoria was tailing them, trying to remain hidden in the highway traffic, but to the trained eyes of the passengers of the car, it was failing miserably.

Five more kilometers have passed by the pair, and the Crown Vic pulled off the road and a new car pulled on the trail. This car, a green Chevy Camero, was riding a little closer to the limo, but the passengers have agreed to give him little notice when they arrived at Tokyo-3, when the car pulled off the tail.

The driver then asked perplexed, "Mr. Rhodes, where is your destination?"

"The corner of 54th and 117th."

The driver did as he was told and soon the destination was in sight. "Jim, there is nothing here," the lawyer asked him, looking at the abandoned building that was sitting there.

"On the contrary, this is the guest entrance of NERV headquarters," he fired right back, stunning the man that annoyed him for most of the trip.

Entering the building, the pair came across a palm print scanner and voice ID system, once again set up by Stark Enterprises.

"Name, Rank, and Serial Number," a voice said, coming out of the walls. This spooked the lawyer again, but Jim remained calm throughout the process.

"Rhodes, Jim, maintenance override number 6655330," he stated into the machine. The room remained silent for a few moments.

"Override accepted. Welcome to NERV, Mr. Rhodes." The door then opened.

"Well, are you coming or not?" The pair quickly entered the door, shutting itself behind them.

The Section 2 guard that had orders to escort any and all guests to Commander Ikari's office joined their side in silence.

The walk to the office was a short and brisk one, seeing as it was just down the hall from that entrance. The guard promptly knocked on the door, undoubtedly letting the commander know that he has guests. A minute later, the door opened, and the escort returned to his post. Jim and the lawyer entered the door, at the sight of two men, the door closing behind them.

The younger man would have been mistaken for a military man, however he was poorly trained in actual combat, and Jim knew it. Jim also knew that they were frauds, planning some big conspiracy. His link with SHIELD told him this. It also didn't help that seven agents was also dead in the ten years since GERIN, the research firm, became NERV, a military orgainization. This was what was keeping Jim from being shot right now. They knew that killing him would rain down the wrath of the UN, and SHIELD would lead the charge.

"So, Mr. Rhodes, I take it you are here for an inspection of the weapons that you have developed for us," the man sitting down asked him.

"No, Mr. Ikari, I'm here for other matters," he responded, cool as a cucumber. The raised eyebrow from the standing man is if he was expressing the other's emotions. Jim continued, "as you are aware, Tony Stark's death in 2001 has left a dark hole in Stark Enterprises. His will expressly stated that I held the company in trust until his heir became of legal age according to the laws of the United States to formally take over the company." The emotionless expression relayed to him that he knew that already and to get on with it, "the heir that Stark has chosen was an infant because he knew that one day the child could even meet, or exceed Stark's legacy as both an inventor and a business man. We were able to conceal the identity of the child when the will was read."

"And your point is," the man sitting down finally spoke.

"We require your son, Shinji Ikari, in New York for three days to reveal to the world that he is the heir to the Stark fortune."

The man standing fainted, still standing if such a thing was possible, but it wasn't so he fell to the ground. Ikari's shades fell from his face and on to the ground, causing him to think about what this would do to the scenario.

"If you interfere in the fulfillment of the will, Gendo, I will pull the plug on NERV so fast that you will wish that "Second Impact" would wipe out the earth, and also expose you for the fraud you are."

"Three days, and three days only," Gendo said, regaining his exposure, "however, my Director of Operations will go with him as a chaperone. I'll notify Section 2 to let them know that you are on your way."

"Fair enough," Jim stood. "The plane leaves from Tokyo-2 airport in 3 hours with or without her. Keep that in mind."

The pursuing limo ride to Shinji's school was one of reversal of fortune proportions. The Crown Vic that was tailing them at the airport was leading them to pick up Shinji. True to his word, Shinji was standing right outside the school gates still in his uniform. The pick up went without a hitch, well a small one because Shinji tried to get in the Crown Vic instead of the limo. Once Shinji went into the right car, the two cars went to his apartment to pack. Thankfully for Shinji's sake, Misato Kusanagi, the Director of Operations, was just getting up for the day when Shinji busted through the door, eager for once. True that it was to leave Tokyo-3 for a few days, but it was something nonetheless. Shinji waited the few extra minutes that it took for Misato to dress herself and pack for the trip, but the pair still made it out to the limo in respectable time.

The limo passed the city limits, and the escort gone, one of the men that Shinji never laid eyes on before spoke, "I'm Mr. Martin from a law office in New York, and the man beside me is Mr. Jim Rhodes, CEO of Stark Enterprises." A pair of gasps of surprise came out of Misato and Shinji as Mr. Martin continued, "we are here today to fulfill a portion of Mr. Tony Stark's will." He then turned to Shinji, "Mr. Ikari, do you know how much you are worth?"

Shinji thought about his answer. He knew that he was worth millions of yen because of Eva, and if he stopped piloting, he would loose that money. He told him the truth, "Well, sir, I know that I'm worth millions of yen for piloting Eva."

"What if I told you that you are worth billions of US dollars." Misato's ears picked up on this. She knew that yen and the dollar are so far different that a million yen is actually a few thousand dollars, and if he was worth billions of that currency, then who knows how much he was worth in Japan.

"I don't believe you."

Jim finally spoke up, "It's true. The fortune that you have inherited is that of my late best friend, Tony Stark. We are flying to New York to announce you as the heir to the fortune to the world. We also have to take care of other matters, but that can come later."

Leaving the stunned passengers in silence, each for their own reasons, the rest of the drive, and the return flight for that matter, as the news of the money weighed down on their minds. Misato, thinking on the amount of beer that she could spend the money for, and Shinji because he was now thrust into high society without any warning, and the don't run away mantra in his mind. Soon they arrived into the Stark Estate, and got ready to turn in for the night, everyone that is except for Shinji. He was leaned over with his head in his hands, still thinking about the news that he was told today when the door opened for Jim.

"Shinji, is anything wrong," he asked.

Shinji turned his head to the voice, "what if I'm not good enough for this."

He sighed, "come, let me show you something." They left the room, heading for the special armor room where the new Iron Man's armor was kept. "Back in 'Nam, I was the personal pilot of Tony Stark. One day, gurrella fighters was disrupting company operations and instead of sending some one to deal with it, he went himself. He was exploring a forest where operations was taking place, when Tony discovered a mine field, the hard way."

"Did he survive?"

"Yes, but he was mortally wounded when Wong-Chu's forces found him. They headed him the best that they could thanks to the efforts of a holy man named Ho Yensin, however, even he couldn't remove all of the pieces of the mine without killing him, so he convinced Chu to allow him to build a chest plate to keep the shrapnel from going in futher, saving his life. However, they built a suit of armor around the plate as a means of escape, and he did. Since then, he has built new armors for many uses with people calling him, 'The Invincible Iron Man'. Oh, those were the good old days. However good that life had been, it wasn't without pain. Mandrian, the Iron Monger, even his own business had powerful rivals that even his genius couldn't even grasp had forced him to drink, and hevily too. He then became a cripple and was forced to look for a successor."

The pair entered the armor room. The lights under the armors that Tony Stark used as Iron Man was dimmed, but you could clearly see them in the dimmed darkness.

"Once he found him, he then designed one last armor. This armor would be for use by the new Iron Man when he became of age. Designed with the most advanced electronics at the time, this armor would allow use by one person and one person only."

A bright light was turned on, blinding Shinji for a few moments, letting his eyes adjust to the light. He saw the details of the red and gold armor as the light reflected off the gold tubing that allowed movement, and the red reflected and looks like it would protect against gunshots, and quite possibly, to Shinji anyway, against progressive weapons that the Eva use.

"It's you, Shinji," another voice said. Shinji turned around and saw a hologram of the man that a picture was hanging off the wall. Shinji then realized that the man was Tony Stark. Jim didn't show any reaction at the new voice. "I just wished that I had lived to see you put this on for the first time, however, I think that Jim has earned the honor for sticking with me for the years that I ran awry. Go on, try it on." The glass that protected the armor slowly fell into the stand, and the armor opened up, ready for its intended occupant. Shinji didn't waste any time getting into the armor, and it quickly closed around him.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were going to be taller, it will correct itself to your current height now." True to his word, the armor adjusted itself to Shinji's height. Shinji was still stunned that the armor allowed entry so easily.

"Shinji, get out of the armor now and let's go to sleep," Jim said. Shinji got out, as tired as he could be, and went to his room, confident that this chapter of his life would be more fulfilling than the pain that Eva caused.

The hologram had a smile on his face as if he witnessed a birth of a new life. In a way, he was right.

**Author's Ramblings:**

This is my longest chapter ever written to date at 2369 content words. This may be a fluke, but I do hope that I can turn out quality work like this.

So now the new Iron Man is born. Now is the time to expose the conspiracy and find the truth. However, a social call keeps him from action. Can the Author stop his case of spinning, can the story even go forward in the way that I intended? Find out in "A new adventure."

No, seriously, I have a headache and I'm surprised that I could even write this chapter.

**Stats:**

Hits: 420

Reviews: 5

Total Content Word Count: 3045

This story is on 1 C2, 3 favorites lists, and 11 story alert lists. Thanks for the support guys!


	3. Chapter 3

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the CEO of Stark Enterprises, Jim Rhodes," a public relations person spoke. This was the day that Shinji feared. He knew that he was chosen to become the next 'Iron Man' by his predecessor Tony Stark and inherit his fortune; he feared the day that this knowledge would become public. He knew that it would happen eventually, but not like this.

The aging Jim Rhodes walked up to the podium. The crowd died down as Shinji's fears grew, even though he was standing out of the public view, he knew he couldn't run away. He knew that Asuka loved the limelight, and him getting the Stark fortune would be instant fame and his ticket to winning the second child's love and overlooking his shortcomings. He also knew that he would have to keep up with appearances, and that means dinner parties, dances and getting married as soon as possible. While Shinji wouldn't have to worry about marriage right now, he does have to have a girlfriend right now.

"Greetings ladies and gentlemen," Jim Rhodes spoke from his prepared remarks, "fourteen years ago to the month was a tragic day for all of us in or outside the Stark Enterprises family when Tony Stark passed away from complications from a mine explosion. When it was told to him that he only had a few years to live, he came to a conclusion that only few good and strong men could do, look for an heir. Since Tony had no children, he undertook a search for an heir that had the potential to lead this company in the right direction, the future, without being tied down and bended to the will of stockholders who wished to tear apart the company for their own selfish needs.

Today the search ends. Even though Tony couldn't be here to see this crowning moment where one legacy ends and another beginning, Tony would have always thought my being here would serve just as well."

Everyone here took and held a breath as to the announcement was about to take place.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the future CEO of Stark Enterprises upon my retirement, Shinji Ikari."

The crowd cheered as Shinji walked out on to the stage. He knew he was frightened like a little child, and apparently someone thought the same as they lent him a mental crutch to let out the anxiety that he felt. Jim stepped aside as Shinji shook his hand and took his place at the podium.

"Um, hello," the crowd quieted down as Shinji spoke from his prepared remarks in Japanese as the screens on the left and right of the stage displayed the English translation, "I know that you are probably expecting someone older, more experienced and most of all, someone who speaks your language, but I hope that the future of the company will lead to many successes for both the shareholders and the future of mankind as this company will lead ourselves to a new golden age."

As Shinji stepped away from the podium, he was greeted with cheers and applause, confident that he could deliver on his promises and lead mankind to a golden age. He was quickly escorted by security off the premises and back into his new home. Once the detail left him, he quickly went straight to the armor room.

The sight of the familiar red and gold of the Iron Man armors didn't freak him out as he darted to one of the armors, his. Quickly allowing him access, the armor allowed him to get into it, and it shut around him.

"Startup procedure activated…" a computer voice rattled around in Shinji's head.

"What's going on," Shinji asked back.

"Rerouting power to thermal couplings," the computer voice answered Shinji as if it never heard him. "Main power at thirty percent and rising. Running status check.

Flight boots, green.

Replusor beams, green.

Secondary weapons, unavailable.

Main defense grid, online.

Secondary defense grid, running on reserve power.

Laser chest beam, green.

Life support, green up to ten hours of continuous use.

Backup power, green.

Non-critical systems, green.

Main power at one hundred percent. Clear for takeoff."

The ceiling opened up, and Shinji did just that. He was used to the G-forces that are normally associated with takeoffs and landings thanks to the Eva, and now that he was Iron Man, he can put that training to good use, instead of causing others pain, remembering his dead friend Toji. Now that he thought about it, what exactly did possess him to come back to NERV at the 14th Angel? It didn't matter as Shinji to a scenic flight around New York, getting some stares from the masses. It cleared his head from the pressure of the dinner party that was to take place at one of the rich guy's houses tonight. Jim was going to be there, and you know that if the letters p-a-r-t-y is together, then Misato will make a fool out of herself. It was one of those coat and tie parties, and a date is required. He was tempted to ask Misato to go, but Jim was going to ask her. It was too far away to get Asuka, even in the Iron Man armor, or so he thought.

With any man flying, he was bound to attract attention. It came in the form of a jet plane, but it wasn't your normal everyday jet. It had four rear fins, a sleek black color, and the detail that Shinji noticed, was that it was bigger than it looked.

"Incoming radio transmission from the aircraft identified as the Blackbird. Threat level green," the computer voice rattled again before giving way to the transmission.

"Iron Man, Iron Man, do you read," Shinji heard a radio transmission speak to him.

"This is Iron Man," Shinji replied.

"I know you are not Stark, so where did you get that armor?"

"It is part of my inheritance."

The people in the jet were thinking about something. "We are opening the back hatch. You are to land inside the jet, do you understand?"

They didn't wait for a response as the back of the plane opened up. Shinji knew that they could keep up with him, so he did as he was told. The short wait in the cargo hold made Shinji think about busting out of the jet the same way he came in, but fear of the lives that were inside made him think twice.

The door to the cockpit opened and a woman that was no younger than 20 entered the door. Her brown flowing hair and green eyes showed youth, and, as he could tell by the activities down stairs, she had a body that only supermodels have. Her form-fitting spandex clothing also didn't help matters as the activity sped up. Shinji knew that he would have to have some alone time as soon as he got back home.

"Relax, I won't ask you to take off your armor," the vision of perfection asked.

Shinji nodded numbly, "Yes, goddess." The woman giggled at the comment.

"You're cute. How about I ask you to go on a date tonight?"

Shinji still appeared as if he lost all sense of reason. "I have to have a date for a dinner party tonight. Would you like to be my date?"

The smile never left the woman's face as she approached him. "Yes, my iron knight. Don't worry about finding me, I'll find you." She kissed the side of his helmet, and promptly left, the smile never leaving her face.

Her return to the cockpit was greeted by stares from everyone else. "What? I was told to get close to the new Iron Man, right?" Shaking their heads, they went back to their stations.

Shinji, on the other hand, just got back his bearings as the rear door opened back up. Not wasting any more time, he flew back to his new home and landed in the armor holds. The sight of Jim Rhodes made him think that he was in trouble.

"How's the suit," was what he asked.

Knowing that he wasn't in trouble for his impromptu flight around New York, he replied, "Most of the reaction time is somewhat too slow, but I think that this would not be a problem with practice. I also have a few ideas to improve the power flow to regenerate power at a better pace."

Jim raised an eyebrow at this. It seems that Tony was right about this kid after all.

"I also had a run in with a fighter jet."

Jim knew that the only jet that had designs like Shinji was describing was the X-Men's jet.

"And I also found a date for the dinner party tonight." That did get Jim's attention. "She is stopping by at six tonight. I'm sure that you'll like her."

Shinji got out of the armor and left a shocked Jim Rhodes in his wake.

Three hours later, Shinji was face to face with his date tonight. The brown haired bombshell was still giving him trouble for the last three and a half hours was sitting across from him in the limo heading for the dinner party.

The dinner party itself was boring, and Shinji means it. Old rich guys that have earned their millions by knowing how to be greedy was walking up to him and his date asking him how he was really going to lead his company to the future, and most of all when was the wedding for the pair. Out of that, Shinji learned how to dodge questions, and knowing how to kiss from his date tonight. When she later explained how the date went to the headmasters of the Xavier Institute, she would give him very high marks.

Shinji and Jim were standing at the party food line when several men walked into the hall. They reached the center of the hall when the apparent leader pulled out a gun and started shooting into the ceiling.

"Okay, people, against the wall now," was the command that he said. An unspoken agreement between them was agreed upon and Jim went to the wall like all of those in attendance, but Shinji left the room unnoticed by the armed men.

"Okay, I've seen the press conference announcing Tony Stark's heir, and I know that he is somewhere in the building, so where is he?"

"The boss is a very impatient man," a lackey said, ready to pull the trigger on an unsuspecting soul, "tell him what he wants to know, and none of you will be hurt."

The few minutes of silence was getting to the lackey as he started doing some "duck-duck-goose" target practice on the people in the hall, words and all. Iron boots started clanking in the hall, drawing the attention of the hostages, and eventually the criminals, growing louder as they come closer.

"Man, I don't like this, it is as if an iron man is coming to get us," the lackey said to the leader.

"Bullshit, Iron Man didn't exist for fourteen years, and he sure as hell isn't going to pop up now."

"You should have listened to him," a voice said as he busted through the door, "because I am back." Shots were fired from the goons as Iron Man came closer to the criminals, deflecting from the suit and hitting the walls. The hostages had the common sense to leave the hall, ran out the doors to get out of the building.

"Now that they are out of the way, I can finally cut loose," Iron Man said as he fired repulsor rays at them. As the lackeys fell one by one, the leader suddenly got nervous. Crawling on his back, he fired shots at Iron Man, somehow hoping to get one past his armor, but his luck, and freedom, ran out as he was blocked against the corner, knocking himself out in the process.

Tying them up, Iron Man promptly deposited them in the front yard of the building, and flew off, leaving the stunned partygoers in his wake. Five minutes later, Shinji walked out the door to the sight of everyone staring up into the sky. Everyone that is, except Jim and his date tonight. The date promptly ran into his arms and gave him a kiss on the cheek, silently thanking whoever was watching him that he returned to her safely.

IMIMIMIMIM

A darkened room with twelve monoliths was discussing the appearance of Iron Man and the impact it would have on the Dead Sea scrolls.

"If this man were to live, then the scenario is not only hopelessly lost, but it would rain down the wrath of the heavens," SEELE-09 said, much to the agreement of a few stone slabs.

"We must wait first before we act," SEELE-06 said, "if we run into this with our head first, then all we have worked for would be for not."

"The only reason that we are not running from the face of the earth right now is because of the finances of SEELE-01," SEELE-05 said, "He and he alone has been able to keep Stark in check, and if we combine our rings of power, then we could keep Iron Man at bay as well."

"Who do you propose would carry out the legacy of the Mandarin," SEELE-07 asked, "we are obviously are too old to do it, and even if we could find someone younger, who would even consider doing this for us?"

"I know of someone," SEELE-03 spoke up, "I have been keeping an eye on a young Russian family who had a child around the same time as the two children that we have manipulated to been conceived. I also have manipulated the parents to have them thinking that the child was the Mandarin reincarnate, and so they have been training the child in martial arts, as well as the knowledge of the powers the rings possess. I also had any of Stark's investigators that were snooping around killed. In my view, we already have the perfect candidate for the job."

"Very well then," SEELE-01 spoke, making his decision, "We give rebirth to the Mandarin."

The stone tablets cease their glow, giving way to a pair of red eyes that have heard the whole thing, angry that SEELE hadn't given him a chance to deal with the "Iron Menace".

Author's Ramblings 

- I owe an apology to gunman. I had stated in a review reply, giving a point of reference to what issues that I'll draw from to give a small description of Iron Man's world, that anything before #200 was fair game. And as any writer will tell you, inspirations will change the outcome of the story. I had been looking for a picture of the Iron Monger so that I could plan out the second half of the story, and I have came across Iron Monger Mk II, appearing in issue #212, and Mk III, appearing in issue #253. Since I do actually own #290, the three suits falls before that issue. I can say with absolute certainty now that there will be no Iron Man references after #290. If you feel that I have cheated you, then I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it, but you know how things are when the inspiration strikes.

- If all goes well, then this should be my last update for a while. Why do you ask? Because I have plenty of unfinished stories that are out on my plate, and as my mamma always told me, it is always good to clean out your plate. Expect the epilogue to Unexpected Gifts, the completion of the Traces series(at 2 fics to go), and an update to The Truth and End of Evangelion, to appear sometime in the future.

**Stats **

Total Hits: 1449

Total Reviews: 11

Total Content Word Count: 5457

Average Hits/Chapter: 724.5

Average Reviews/Chapter: 5.5

This story is on 1 C2, 8 favorites lists, and 16 story alert lists. Thanks for the support guys!


	4. Chapter 4

**Just outside Beijing, China, Six Weeks Later**

The snow was building too fast for a group's liking. The small group of six men and one woman was trudging through the three feet of snow to an old building that was a few kilometers away.

The building itself was nothing special as the group was getting closer, just a standard prison that was built in the 1950s, if the "fearless leader's" mandarin was correct.

The woman pulls out a cigarette and lights it. Taking a long drag out of it, she asked, "So, how close are we, 'fearless leader'?"

The man that was leading the pack stopped for a bit. "You know, Susan, if it were not for the fact that Mr. Keel wanted to find this man and present him with SEELE's rings right now, I'd say that it would take a day, but seeing as I got some good old fashioned TNT here with the pack mule, I'd say an hour or two," he responded, picking up the pace.

The time passes quickly, and soon the group was at the gate. Looking at the old stone walls that were aged rather quickly by Second Impact, Susan put out the cigarette that she had been smoking and looked at the group leader. "What now," was all she said, earning her a glare and a not so subtle glance at the .45 that he had been caring in his jacket holster.

The leader, naturally, ordered one of the men to set the TNT charges against the wall and run the charge cord back out against their path. Once everything was satisfactory, the group at large went back to a safe distance to set up the detonation device. The set up went quickly, and before the blast charge went off, the leader had a few select words.

"People, the moment that we have been waiting for has arrived. Let's get this hole blown."

From a safe distance away, the hole in the prison was blown, allowing the group entrance.

Turning on the flashlights, the precession headed down to the holding cells that are on the basement level, paying careful attention to the Chinese that line the walls, guns drawn.

The rickety stairs, to the shock of the black headed busty woman, held strong after seven people descended their rusty steps. The group flashed their lights around the hall, getting their bearings. They could tell that this area is the solitary confinement of the prison, and started to walk forward, carefully inspecting each of the cells along the way, looking for clues to the whereabouts of the man that they are looking for.

Skeletons were in some of the cells, a pool of LCL with some prison clothes in others, obviously the guards didn't care, or didn't know.

"I found someone," Susan yelled out to the group. In one of the cells that Susan inspected, there was a man sitting cross-legged in the middle of burnt out candles, in deep meditation. His black hair was long, and his facial hair was styled in a manner of Guan Yu. At first glance, his eyes are closed.

The leader of the group had the cell door opened with a key that was found at the guard post near by, and the group of seven entered the cell.

"So, this is the infamous 'Kahn's legacy', is it," the leader said. Seeing as he got no answer, he asked again, "WELL, ARE YOU?"

The non-responsive man was, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world. One man in the group finally had enough and pointed a gun at the man. "You better answer the master," was what he said, his hands trembling slightly.

The man sprang into action, disabling the man, and dodging the resulting bullet fire from five guns, as he silenced the men, permantely. Landing where he started, he resumed being "dead to the world", leaving the only two people alive in stunned silence.

Spitting out the saliva that was building, the leader recovered enough to hand a loaded gun to Susan, who was standing a few feet behind him.

"Kill him," he spoke with no hesitation as Susan picked up the gun and pointed it forward.

BANG! The resulting bullet and fall of the last remaining man in the group was truthfully the only thing that woke the man up, as he opened his eyes.

"Why did you kill your master," he asked.

"I found a stronger master," Susan responded as she opened the ring case to expose the 10 Rings of the Mandarin.

"I see. I trust that you will be loyal to my wishes?"

"Always and forever," she said as the man put on the rings.

"Now let's take care of the mortals who believe that they are gods."

"Iron Man still lives."

"What? The Iron Knight still exists?"

"Yes, and a new heir to the mantel has been named."

"Who?"

"Shinji Ikari."

"Very well, we take care of the Iron problem first. Where is he?"

"Tokyo-3, my master, NERV headquarters."

"We go at once."

"Yes, my master."

The pair left the cell, both knowing the fate that awaits the Iron Knight and the Dragon as they will meet in battle once more.

**Author Ramblings and Stats**

- After a much needed vacation, I finally picked up the pen once more. And if you recognize the set up from Iron Man (current run), issue 17, then you are right about my inspirations for this chapter. I did, however, wanted to avoid copying from the comic word for word, so I changed a few things. I hope that you like the results. Truthfully, this was the only way that I felt could have introduced the villain of the first arc of the story effectively.

**Stats**

Total hits: 3684

Total Reviews: 16

Total Content Word Count: 6329

Average Hits/Chapter: 1228

Average Reviews/Chapter: 5

This story is on 2 C2s, 10 Favorites lists, and 21 alert lists. Thank you for your support!


	5. Chapter 5

"Warning, power down to thirty five percent," Tony said over the coming battle. Shinji's opponents were a gang of thugs, however, judging from their weapons, they were a gang of thugs sent by some powerful men. The fact that they managed to reverse polarize his armor speaks for that. Now all that Shinji could do is sit and wait for his systems to reboot.

"Let's blow that Iron freak sky high," one of the goons said, grabbing a rocket propelled grenade, much to the cheer of his comrades.

Shinji had every reason to fear the weapon. Despite its age, the SI2332 is one of the most powerful RPGs that came from Stark Industries before he took over. The grenade itself is made from the material that the EVAs were armored in, but had the deadly accuracy of a pallet rifle. Shinji knew that he couldn't withstand a direct blast from the weapon, however he could take out the targeting system with a EMP blast from his chest beam. It was a long shot, but if it paid off, it could increase the chance that he could get out of the way when the blast went off. Taking the few precious moments to calculate the math, Shinji concluded that it was a chance that he would have to take.

The shot was fired as Shinji finished prepping the EMP blast. Tony needed no further instruction as the AI fired the EMP blast. The blast hit its target, but the trajectory wasn't affected. As Shinji fell to the ground, his own systems effected by the pulse, the grenade hit the crate behind him. Unfortunately for everyone, the crate contained claymore mines and exploded. Shinji's armor protected him for the most part, however, a few big pieces of shrapnel found its way into Shinji's bare skin, tearing into his spine.

IMIMIMIMIMIMIMIM

Shinji looked up into the familiar white walls of the local hospital. Shinji was not pleased when his armor was right beside him nearly destroyed thanks to the claymores. Defense would be near the top of his priorities list when he went in to rebuild the armor. The door opens to find Ritsuko Agaki, NERV's primary doctor walking through the door.

"So, Shinji, anything that you would like to say about the whole armor incident," She started into her lecture mode.

"I was testing something for the US Government," Shinji replied, already thinking about her next question.

Witch was, "So care to explain the reason why I had to dig out fifty fragments of what was a claymore mine from your spine?"

"It was a live fire exercise, and a crate of claymores were in the testing area that wasn't suppose to be there."

"I know that you are lying to me."

"The test itself was supposed to be classified."

"As classified as the true cause of Second Impact?"

"Not as classified."

"Very well. There is a few things that I must inform you of about your condition."

"Such as?"

"Well, for starters, Shinji, your spine is approximately seventy five percent severed. You will experience at times temporary paralysis and chills from the waist down. Actually the paralysis is a little higher on your back about the fifteenth vertebrate."

"Why so high?"

"That is where the largest pieces of the claymore mine were lodged into you."

"Okay, continue."

"You will require a back brace for heavy lifting, and above all else, I will have to take you off the active combat roster for evangelion unit one and into the reserve list. I'm afraid that NERV won't pay your hazard pay retirement due to how you caused your own retirement."

"Do I have any recourse?"

"No, not really, but let's be reasonable, you have plenty of money from Stark Industries to keep you afloat."

"True."

"And another thing, maybe you can help yourself with all of that tech, but you might have to face the fact that you could never walk as well as you could before that little 'accident'."

As Ritsuko left the room, Shinji thought about a few things. Mainly how to reenforce the armor that currently sits by his side. Thankfully, he didn't need to move much to make his phone calls.

"Computer, open a line to Jim Rhodes."

IMIMIMIMIMIM

When Shinji made his request for him to repair his armor, Jim Rhodes didn't know what happened to his old armor that warranted repairs. Tony Stark's genius was supposed to cover all contingencies. Obviously, taking an anti-personnel mine, and fragments from said mine got into the cracks in the main armor plating was not one of them. Thankfully, there was one solution that could fix Shinji's problem. Nano-machines. Directly injected into the spine, they could function and conduct electricity better than a real spinal cord, however, he would have to wear his chest plate probably for the rest of his life to protect the exposed area.

A team of doctors was currently on the way to Tokyo-3 hospital to explain it all to their boss. The explanation seemed simple to Jim, and it was alright with him. As a matter of fact, Tony was talking about doing the same procedure himself to keep his new spinal cord in check. Thankfully, Pepper managed to talk him into letting the new cord do its job.

The armor, on the other hand, was a different subject all together. It needed system wide repairs. When Shinji was talking about the armor, he proposed that they make the plates out of the material that the EVAs were made of, and the under armor out of chain mail made out of titanium. The proposal is sound, and when it was ran by 'Tony', it actually thought the improvements would prevent reverse polarity by 57%. Another advantage, he pointed out, was that he conduct electrical magnetic pulses faster and reboots of systems would be faster if damaged.

They both agreed to scrap 'Iron Willed mk.1' and move on to the second model.

IMIMIMIMIMIMIM

Shinji awoke. The surgery that inserted the nanomachines into his spine was a complete success according to the doctors. Naturally, NERV was uninformed about the procedure and as a result was afforded absolute secrecy to do the procedure. Of course dropping a few million into the hospital helped ensure secrecy. Shinji burped as he got out of bed and ready to face the day. Jim said that the new armor wasn't ready yet, saying that the new attachments to the armor isn't ready. Now that he is no longer piloting EVA, he could fly to New York and test out the armor whenever he was ready.

Walking around the room to get used to walking again, Shinji looked out the room. Tokyo-3 looked just like the fortress city that it always been, ready for another threat by any angel, but somehow Shinji knew that the city wasn't ready for any human threat, and that is when his role as The Invincible Iron Man would begin.

IMIMIMIMIMIMIM

"Welcome to Tokyo-3 High School Mr. Nagisa," a man states.

"Why thank you principle-san," Karwou said, smiling.

'Soon, Shinji Ikari, soon,' Karwou thought with a smile on his face.

**Author Rant and Statistics**

Okay, it's been two years since I've last updated, and there is no real good reason why I did what I did, but I wasn't satisfied with what I wrote. I mean the first draft of the chapter continued with the exploits with Susan and the Russian boy from the last chapter, my second draft, witch I lost, had Shinji in a counciling session with Jean Grey. I finally had enough and wrote this. I hope that you are happy with it.

**Statistics**

Total Hits: 8,149

Average Hits/Chapter: 2037.25

Total Reviews: 19

Average Reviews/Chapter: 4.75

Total Content Word Count: 7544

This story is on 5 C2s, 20 Favorites lists and 31 Alert lists. Thank you for your support!


	6. Chapter 6

Blurry vision is what greeted Shinji when he woke up a few days later. The new nervous nanomachines that was injected into Shinji has worked well, perhaps all too well.

'Lets see here,' Shinji thought to himself, 'nerves are normal, touch has improved sensitivity by 38% audio/visual processing has improved by .25 seconds, and finally reaction time has improved by an unknown factor. Won't know until I actually walk again.'

The door opens to find one of the doctors that operated on him walking through. 'Probably just to check on me and if I'm conscious to talk, they will tell me what in the hell is going on.'

"Oh, I didn't see you awake there, Ikari-san," the woman spoke in fluent Japanese, "I am Dr. Lin Yin, doctorate in advanced nano technology."

"Pleasure to meet you," Shinji responded with genuine softness, "Now why am I here in my apartment instead of the hospital?"

"NERV"

That was the one answer that proved Shinji's suspicions. Some body talked.

"Lin, I want you to find out everything about the members of the team that did the surgery."

"Already did it Mr. Ikari, and the leak is," Lin pulled out a gun as she said with a semi seductive voice, "Me."

"Alright what do you want. You obviously want something important."

"My superiors are not very happy with you Shinji, or should I call you Iron Man. My bosses are not pleased that you went against the scrolls and got yourself injured like that. You were supposed to be this nice little impressionable boy who would simply do our bidding without any worry at what was really going on, but since you inherited Stark Enterprises, you have become too "iron willed" for our bosses comfort."

"If you are going to kill me, why do you fix my spine?"

"Oh, that. I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to crucify you."

Shinji looked at her stunned. He didn't know what to do. His armor is being built in New York, and he doubts that Rhodes can get here in time with the War Machine armor. And above all else, his armor is not in sight so that he could bluff his way out of the situation.

Suddenly the glass window broke as a bullet struck the woman. A few minutes later, a man opened the door. The bald black man had an eye patch on his left eye. The figure was dressed in all black, signifying that he was black ops of some kind.

"How are you feeling, kid," the man stated.

"Okay, now that you are here," Shinji said, "Who are you?"

"Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Shinji knew what SHIELD stood for, Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate. It dealt with people like him.

"So, what is going on?"

"Well," Fury explained, "there is a group of powerful men in the world that would love to wipe out the human race. That woman was just a small fry of the group."

"If she was a small fry, then why was she able to tell me so much about NERV?"

Fury laughed. It was clear that Shinji didn't know what was going on. "NERV? Who said anything about NERV? The group that I'm talking about is called SEELE."

"SEELE, What's that?"

"SEELE is a group of religious zealots that seek nothing more than to wipe out the entire human race in a bid for godhood. No body knows who they really are, but they are backed by Lorenz Keel, a wealthy businessman much like Tony Stark was. Here is the best picture of him captured by Interpol."

Fury passed Shinji along a 8x12 picture. The figure in the picture was an old man with grey hair and a visor covering his eyes, like glasses. It was clear that the visor could be used to possibly control an entire army of armors, a fact that was clearly not lost upon the director.

"As you can see, Shinji, to take this man down is to keep humanity safe from whatever he has planned for it," Fury stated, "and for that reason, I would like to extend you a hand to join the Avengers."

"The Avengers," Shinji stated more like a question, "If it would get me help in dealing with threats within Tokyo-3, then I'm all for it."

"Congratuations, Mr. Ikari, you made the right decision. Can you walk?"

Shinji then tried to get out of bed with shaky results. After a few minutes, he was walking just fine as if he were before the injury.

"Let's go meet the team."

IMIMIMIMIMIMIMIMIM

In a small room, twelve monoliths was standing there giving a small meeting a flashing light show.

"Tabris has escaped our control," monolith 03 stated, "and with the scenario out of control, his activation has deviated from the scrolls."

"Relax," monolith 01 replied calmly, "he will go to NERV with no proof of our involvement."

"And what about 05's agent, Ms. Lin Yin? She was met with a bullet coming from SHIELD."

"That Fury knew far too much about our plans to have the third child killed," 05 responded. "It was clear that Shinji knew too much about NERV's operations to be a threat to our plans. He must be killed before he went to Fury."

"But you failed as Fury went to him," 06 stated, "now Shinji knows about Mr. Keel, and will be sure to go after him."

02 finally spoke up, "he is protected with all of the advanced technology and mobile armors, he won't go after him right now."

"But what about Iron Man," 03 demanded. "It would be no problem for him to make mince meat out of the armors and get to him."

The door to the small room opened up for a man to enter.

"Nice to see you finally showed up, Gendo," 01 stated, "Any progress on our little Iron Man problem?"

"Actually, yes, Mr. Chairman," Gendo responded coolly, "We have Iron Man's armor right here at NERV headquarters and my team is breaking down and reverse engineering all of the components that make up the armor."

"That is good and all of that, but what can you practically do with all of the information?"

"Well, we are building an armor called the NERV Iron Hunter. The first generation of armors that is designated to take down Iron Man where ever he goes. In the air, or underwater, this armor is designed to go toe to toe with the red and gold freak."

"What is the expected date of completion?"

"The prototype will be ready in five days."

"And the search for someone crazy enough to pilot this machine?"

"Completed through the Marduk Institute. Training will begin at once. If that is all," Gendo finished his report as he got up to leave.

"Just one more thing," 03 spoke up, "do you know where Karou Nagisa is? He has seemed to ignore our request for a meeting."

"No, sir, I have no idea where he would be today," Gendo lied as he left the room.

"We know that Gendo is lying," 01 spoke up, "but there is nothing we can do until Tabris shows his face. For now, let him play as Karou Nagisa."

One by one the lights go off from the monoliths go off as 01 remained lit.

'Soon the scenario will be right on track,' Keel thought behind the stone as the light finally went off.

**Author Rants and Statistics**

Well, chapter six is in the books, and I feel that things have gotten back on track with this story. I'll work on Chapter seven a bit later on in the week.

I've pretty much have decided on how I want this story arc to end, and after that, the story arc that you have been waiting for, the return of the Mandarin, complete with a new armor. I may go ahead and post that up as a separate story, I don't know.

Oh, the Iron Hunter Mk. 1's base armor poll is still going on. You can check out my profile to take the poll, or you can go to my forums to discuss the poll.

Excelsior,

Sanji Himura

**Statistics**

Total Hits: 8,853

Average Hits/Chapter: 1770.6

Total Reviews: 20

Average Reviews/Chapter: 4

Total Content Word Count: 8845

This story is on 5 C2s, 22 Favorites lists and 32 Alert lists. Thank you for your support!


	7. Chapter 7

"I know who you are, Tabris," Gendo said to a stunned Karou, "don't bother trying to hide it, the fact that you are here is in direct violation of the dead sea scrolls, so any reason why you decided to activate right at this moment rather than waiting for the other angels to come and die?"

"The scrolls were violated the moment you allowed the third child to go to New York to accept Stark's fortune," Karou countered.

"Clearly, the fact that Stark has chosen the Third Child as heir to his fortune is completely irrelevant as to why you are here." Karou had to admit that Gendo had him beat.

"As long as I fulfill my part of the scrolls, I quite frankly don't give a damn when I do my part. I am the angel of free will after all."

"Well seeing as the third has just been retired, you can take his place in the 01, or you could bother Iron Man for quite a while while the second is waiting to drop sinch with her unit 02. It is clear that you being here is not part of the plan."

"How about I do both?"

"Well then, report to Dr. Akagi in her office at 1400 hours."

"Yes sir."

IMIMIMIMIMIMIMIMIM

(six months later)

Shinji is flying over New York in his new armor. The new armor needed a tune up and has just finished interfacing with "Tony" as the AI was getting on his case for not building any modules and program extensions for this armor.

"I told you for the last time, Tony," Shinji harped, "the modules from the old armor are compatible with this one, even the Hulkbuster one. I don't even know why you built the damn module in the first place, seeing as the Hulk is dead from gamma radiation poisoning since before I was even born."

"Incoming object thirty degrees upper left," Tony said, trying to get Shinji's attention.

"Don't try to change the subject, Tony. Woah," Shinji was cut off as an apparent meteorite flew right passed him, trying to crash into the city.

"Material analysis suggests the object is man made made with , recommending to intercept and destroy."

Shinji didn't need to be told twice as he flew down an intercept course to intercept the meteorite.

As Shinji approached the object, the outer shell broke apart revealing a suit of armor. The purple and gray paint reminded Shinji of unit 01, his former command with NERV, a clear fact that told Shinji that NERV was involved with this armor, quite possibly SEELE. Shinji didn't have any more time to think as one of the armor's arms stretched.

"Recommending evasive manuvers," Tony suggested. Shinji decided to let gravity do some work as he fell to the ground. Unfortunately, the arm followed him as it grabbed Shinji by the throat. It pulled him up close, but it kept him at two arms length.

"Negator EMP blast is being prepared. Fire unibeam in twenty five seconds. If it has Stark tech on it, it will go down."

'Damn,' Shinji thought. It was clear that twenty five seconds isn't enough to find out if the armor has Stark technology, 'for all I know it could be organic.'

"Analysis complete," the mystery armor stated, "armor is made up of titanium, iron and other classified materials. Armor can stand up to a thousand feet underwater with this blend, but let's see how high before the armor ices over."

"Before you go out of orbit, can I get your name," Shinji asked stalling for time.

"Ten seconds remaining," Tony stated.

"I am designated NERV Iron Hunter model 1," the armor stated as they begin to take off.

"Shinji, at current rate of acceleration, we will be unable to use the Negator EMP to its maximum efficiency."

"I know that. Time to see if my math is right." Shinji fired his repulsers from his gauntlets, but were proven ineffective as an AT field appeared throughout the armor. "What was that," Shinji asked to no one in particular.

"That, Shinji, was an AT field, pattern blue."

"An Angel? That's impossible."

"It seems that the armor is made from angel technology, a specialty of NERV, or the fact that the pilot is an angel."

"Then it is time to test out a new feature of the armor." Shinji concentrated. An orange AT field is projected in a form of a knife. Soon repulser energy soon filled the space in the field as it continues through to the enemy armor. As expected, the blue AT field went up, but the orange field went through it like butter. Then Shinji opened up the end of the knife and the repulsor energy went to his chest plate, scoring a direct hit.

The Iron Hunter, clearly in pain, let Shinji go. "EMP blast ready. Fire when ready," Tony stated.

Shinji didn't need to be told twice as he fired his unibeam at the Hunter. First his propulsion went out as he started to fall to earth, then his repulsors on his gauntlets fail to maintain power. Shinji took this chance to redirect the enemy so that he wouldn't fall on civilians.

After seeing that he landed as safely as he could in the Hudson, Shinji flew off to the one man who would know what was going on, Nick Fury.

IMIMIMIMIMIMIMIMIM

Bangkok, Thailand

A street fight between two women was taking place in a gambling hall. The two competitors were nothing special, but each were trained in deadly martial arts that the underground circuit was known for. Each punch, kick, and sometimes headbutt had its part in a deadly dance known as entertainment. To the winner it was a chance to avoid a fate worse than death, but to the loser it often meant that your sanity was put away for weeks at a time in brutal reprogramming that the slave masters put you through. Most of the time, they were assaulted for no reason at all and rape was a common occurrence among women.

To a man and a woman watching, however, it was looking at potential brides. From the announcer in a secluded area, one of the women was undefeated, and therefore pure from the slave master who was keeping her.

Suddenly, her opponent made a fundamental mistake and she capitalized on it, ending the match.

"Winner, Mai Lee," the announcer declared, much to the pleasure of the bettors that were there in the common area, suddenly winning their bets.

Seeing all they need to see, the pair went to the VIP area to meet the slave master who owned Mai Lee.

Opening the door, the two were greeted by the man and one of his apparent new attractions due to the way that she was dressed.

"Come in, come in," the man said as the two took their seats right next to him, "What brings you to Bangkok?"

"My master requires a bride," The woman said as the man stayed silent, "One that is pure, but also one who can be deadly when the need arises."

"There is not too many women who fit that bill, but my daughter may be a suitable bride."

"My master requires Mai Lee."

"Let's see the color of your money before we talk about her."

The woman hands him a briefcase, "two point five million US."

"Very well then, she is yours. Just be careful with her."

"Will do."

**Author ramblings and Statistics**

Well another chapter is in the books, and I'm stunned by the lack of reviews that my last chapter got. It's no big deal, since I've put the fic in the crossover section, but now I'll straighten out that mistake right now. Hopefully I'll get better exposure now.

**Statistics**

Total hits: 9767

Total Reviews: 20

Average hits/chapter: 1628

Average Reviews/chapter: 3.3

Total content word count: 10132

This story is on 5 C2s, 25 favorites lists and 34 alert lists. Thank you for your support.


	8. Chapter 8

_Three Days Later_

"Mr. Ikari, sir, you can't go in there," a section 2 agent said, pulling out his gun. Stunned, Shinji relaxed as he knew that the chest plate of his armor would protect him from any bullet that the agent would fire.

"Let him in," a voice spoke up through the speakers in the area. Holstering the pistol, the section 2 agent opened up the door to the commander's office. Uttering his thanks, Shinji stepped through the door to see his father and the sub-commander there in the room. The pair made Shinji madder with rage as the smug look on their faces made him realize that the pair actually reversed engineered the armor safe guards on his patents and put together a fully functional armor that fights with his weapons.

"You got a lot of balls, Gendo," Shinji told him. He was past formalities at this point.

The rage grew with the fact of the nonchalant response that Gendo gave him. "What," is what he said.

"Didn't you see the news? My bodyguard was attacked by one of NERV's machinations. A NERV Iron Hunter Mk. 1."

"I don't know how you came across that name, but it is classified."

"So you do admit that you stole my technology for your own selfish needs," Shinji trailed off as he got a closer look at the man in front of him. "You sick bastard. You sent a child to his death in the Hudson river just because of some UN guys determined that Iron Man was a threat."

Gendo knew that the boy, no, the man, in front of him had sized him up and broken down his plans without flinching, and didn't show any reaction. Shinji continued, "My company's involvement with NERV is over. Maybe if you don't have children to fight your battles for you I will consider to having your weapon's ammo restocked, but until then, our relationship is over."

Shinji prepared to leave the office when Gendo called out to him, "You know that you are making a mistake right? I will make you regret that decision."

'You can try,' Shinji thought as he left the room, 'you can try.' The two men who are left alone plotted among themselves.

IWIWIWIWIWIW

Shinji sat in his limo convoy thinking about the discussion that just took place between him and his father. He came to confront him to find out who was behind the armor and how he got a hold of Stark tech before it hit the market. He was stonewalled on both counts, or rather he wouldn't publicity admit it to a civilian. It suited him just fine as he could use Tony to hack for the information. He just wanted to see if his father would give up the information willingly.

Suddenly, the car in front of him blew up as his security detail stopped to check out the destruction with weapons drawn. Having simulated many ambushes with his security detail, he calmly sat in his limo while his security fought whatever was outside.

Outside, the guards were not fairing too well with whatever was out there. Whatever was out there was immune to bullets witch suggested that whatever was there, was armored. Few precious moments past the time until the bullets stopped firing. Shinji relaxed for the few minutes thinking that his bodyguards actually stopped the ambush. When the door ripped open, he was dead wrong as the attacker pulled him out the door.

The familiar armored foe revealed his face to Shinji. It looked like the NERV Iron Hunter who was last seen at New York when he fell to his death at the Hudson river. He took another look at the armor. The armor is stronger than the version that was in New York, however Shinji noticed that there was an antenna on the helmet, indicating that there was a subspace broadcasting involved with this model.

Shinji ripped open his shirt to prepare an unibeam blast to hit him, but before he can fire, the armor grabbed him and flew off out the door.

_Three hours later_

**Unknown location**

"So he is finally waking up," a man said as Shinji was waking up on a grimy bed. Shinji looked around to find a man and a woman in lab coats hovering over him examining all facets of his chest plate.

"What was the number to that truck," Shinji said in a haze. The two scientists were dazed at the sudden voice at the door, but paid it no mind as the door opened to robotic armor coming in to survey the room.

Seeing Shinji's eyes open, the guards grabbed him and drug him out the door, leaving the scientists alone.

Wondering the gritty hallways the guards carried Shinji down them as the guards know something that he didn't. Soon he found himself at an arena full of aliens and other humanoid races as he was in a court room. The crowd booed as he walked down to take his position at the defendant's chair and secured in energy cuffs to keep him steady.

The apparent judge put the court in order. "This trial is to make a determination on weather or not Earth deserves a First contact with the United Planets of the Milky Way or be destroyed," he said. He was looking down at his apparent notes about the planet, "It seems that thirty years ago several planets in our federation have made first contact without prior approval, however most has been initiated from Earth side. Oh, these are very serious charges indeed. Mass murder, infringing on a rescue mission, and infringing justice among many other serious charges. How do you plead?"

"On what authority do you have the right to hold a member of the Avengers," Shinji demanded. The council looked on in stunned shocked as a normal human by all stretches of the imagination claimed himself to be a member of the Avengers.

One member of the council, however, didn't believe him, saying, "what do you mean you are a member of the Avengers? You are a member of SEELE who is destroying my people because of some delusional visions of ascending to godhood, are you not?"

The increase of volume among the council seemed to indicate an agreement. Shinji decided to cut it off at the head by saying, "Sirs, I was a member of NERV, an organization that was once called GERHIN, that is directly responsible for combating beings that we called angels. In 2000, the first of them, that we called, 'Adam', was found in the antarctic. An exploration of the area, called the Katsuragi Expedition, was sabotaged by plants from this SEELE company and killed half of the human race at the time. The resulting gamma radiation was later found by my company's satellites to be seven and a half times the size of the explosion that created the Hulk. Since my mother, Yui Ikari, created mechs that are using the organic tissue of these angels to combat them, my father, Gendo, wanted to control the mechs, called evangelion, to control an event called third impact to unite the human race just so that he can be with my dead mother."

The council waited with a baited breath to see what Shinji would have to say, "the prophicies that would lead to the event would ride on my mental state, and further down the slippery slope that I went, the more danger life on planet Earth would be in. Thankfully, that all stopped when I found out that I inherited Mr. Stark's fortune and control over NERV munitions."

The same council member cut him off, "so you do admit to arming these extremists?"

"My predecessor, Col. James Rhodes, did, convinced that these angels were a threat to humanity. He should have known better and shut down production," Shinji continued, gradually raising his voice, "like I was going to do." Taking the few precious moments to calm down before he continued, "I was on my way back to my company's office to issue the shut down order before your machine there," pointing at the robot, "attacked my convoy."

Giving a look of stunned silence, the council members looked like they were going to gag before they composed themselves. One member of the council, however, was an old war hawk who wanted total war between them and Earth, so he pressed a button.

Before anyone had time to react, the doors behind Shinji opened to see several drones stormed into the room each one pointing a hand at the flabbergasted council.

"Danzo, what is the meaning of this," the council president demanded at the old war hawk.

The being known as Danzo chuckled as he spoke, "Do we really want someone who is below us to be our equal? I can tell that most of you are considering it. We need the humans to become our servants so I did the only logical thing that I know how. I sent my son to the Antarctic twenty years ago just to have Earth's scientists discover it. I also falsified the Dead Sea scrolls with the promise of godhood to anyone foolish enough to discover it. It is when that bastard Stark gave him the keys to that cursed armor."

Before the warhawk could say anymore, lighting struck the ground as the Asgardian god of Thunder, Thor Odin'sson appeared before the tribunal. "Peace," the thunder god spoke with authority. "You all know that the Earth is protected by Asgardian law in the Nine Realms treaty. So what makes you all so certain that you can move to destroy it with a single blow?"

Danzo laughed as he flickered as if light was bending around him, "Because, brother, I back them." Danzo and the rest of the council revealed themselves as the trickster god, Loki.

Thor turned to Shinji as he prepared his armor, "Man of Iron, are you equipped to battle?"

Shinji replied, "Against him? Certainly. TONY, activate anti-magic barrier." Suddenly the number of Lokis have been reduced to one, the one that has been in control of Danzo. "Now we fight on equal terms, sunny side up."

**Author's Ramblings and Statistics**

I'll be the first to admit that nearly three years between updates is not fair for the community that likes my stories. It is disrespectful no matter the reason and for that, I apologize for that.

There is good news that has come from that absence, however. I have decided that, upon critical reviews that I have received over the years *cough*gunman*cough*, I have decided to expand the Iron Willed universe with another fic called Tales of Suspense: Iron Willed. This is mostly filler that I feel that needs elaborating on in the main story. These stories will help establish a more thorough crossover experience. Look for issue 1 to be out soon.

**Statistics**

Total Hits: 18,621

Total Reviews: 23

Average Hits/Chapter: 2660.14

Average Reviews/Chapter: 3.28

Total Content Word Count: 11832

This story is on 6 C2s, 43 Favorites lists and 49 alert lists. Thank you for your support.


	9. Chapter 9

The battle was intense, but thanks to the anti-magic barrier, Shinji was able to escape back to Earth with the assistance of Thor. Loki was being sent back to Asgard to face charges stemming from the incident.

Board meetings were boring, Shinji concluded four days later. It was getting time for the yearly stockholders meeting that was to take place at the end of the month. The venue this year for the meeting was to take place at the Staples Center. Thankfully, it was mid summer, so there was no sports activity to be seen around. Normally, these sort of meetings would take place in New York, but Shinji would rather stay at Tony's old Malibu getaway spot right off PCH.

At the stockholders meeting, James Rhodes would formally give over control of Stark Enterprises to Shinji as CEO, as a full vote at the board meeting was held up over legal issues that needed to be taken up at the shareholder meeting. Thankfully there has been no sign of the Iron Hunter since leaving Manhattan for Tokyo-3 to assume control of their Asian branch. As the Vice President of Asian Affairs, Shinji would be responsible for most of the cutting edge tech that went out of Japan, China and Hong Kong.

The telephone ringing would change everything. "No calls," Rhodes blared out to the phone.

"Ah, but this is no ordinary call," a man said. "Is the Vice President of Asian Affairs in the building," he asked as if he knew the answer already.

"I am," Shinji replied.

"I am called many things, but you can call me The Great Teacher Mandarin" the man revealed himself. "Lesson number one. Heroes, there are no such thing."

Suddenly the floor gave way as missiles attacked the floor below the meeting room. There was a college tour going on at the time of the attack. As the rubble settled, Shinji stood up on shaking feet. He looked around to see that the rest of the board is dead along with most of the students that were on the floor to begin with.

Taking unsure steps, Shinji made his way down to the research labs. He was, in particular looking for his private lab that he set up in LA underneath the massive power supply that powers the factory. The police were going to be after him, but he don't care. Right now, he had two missile trails to pursue.

As he crawled into the lab, he spotted what he was after. This particular set of armor was considered ancient to some, but right now he needed the defense. It was the Hulkbuster Mk. 1. It was slated to be scrapped for security reasons, but now he was glad that he put it off and upgraded it instead.

As the armor slipped around him, TONY came online and said, "you can barely stand. Are you sure that you can stand the stresses of the Hulkbuster?"

"I need to know where those missiles came from," Shinji countered, "If it means that I become dead for a few hours, so be it."

Soon, the armor was ready and Shinji took flight. He flew to where the missiles ended up and said to TONY, "Start spectral scanning."

"Spectral scanning in progress." A few minutes later TONY came back online and said, "we have a hit, plotting course now." Not being told twice, Shinji flew off, following the spectral trail that they produced.

Soon he reached the docks. He maintained enough altitude so that he wasn't spotted by the goons, and the stealth coating on the armor prevented radar from detecting him.

"Incoming call from Asuka on NERV's secure line."

Muttering a slight curse, he instructed TONY to patch it through. "Baka Shinji, where are you," Asuka asked, "We just heard that the Stark LA headquarters just collapsed." Of course the news would have hit Japan by now. Anything having to do with the supposed "savior of humanity" would make international news instantly.

"Asuka," Shinji replied, "I need you to calm down. I'm in LA right now. I was at a board of directors meeting finalizing details for the annual Stark Enterprises shareholder meeting at the end of month. Now I am clear of the building, do you understand?" A quick yes allowed Shinji to continue, "Now I need you to go to access whatever computer that you can get a hold of and look into someone named 'The Mandarin'. Use maintenance code 'Joker-four-one'. Do you understand that?"

A quick yes got her to disconnect the call. "TONY," Shinji prepared to give the AI some instructions, "Grant Asuka Soryu level 3 access to the Stark mainframe requiring the passcode Joker-four-one at all times. Block access to any Stark related secrets including anything armor related, and restrict access to the Armory in Tokyo-3."

"Very well."

"Also patch a call through to Kitty Pride at the Xavier Institute."

"Calling now sir."

After a few rings, Jean Grey picked up the other end. "Iron Man, why are you calling at this late hour? Kitty has school in the morning."

"I'm sorry, but did you read the news lately?"

"No."

"Stark was attacked a few minutes ago by someone who claimed himself to be 'The Mandarin', and you didn't hear about it?"

"No. The institute is on lockdown after that shootout at your ascention party."

"Good times," Shinji remembered.

A click was heard at the other end of the line as the connection was terminated. "Well, sir," TONY suggested, "shall we get a move on?"

"No. I need to make a press appearance. Did we get an invite to the Fireman's ball tonight?"

"I have no record of such an invitation."

"Time to go and crash a party," Shinji thought as he flew off to his Malibu safe house.

**Author's Notes and Ramblings**

Well another chapter is in the books. Sorry for crapping out on the Shinji Thor and Loki fight, but I felt that it gave no relevance to the overall plot of the story. I will probably write the fight later as a side story, but it won't see an appearance in this story in a flashback or otherwise.

Also, that will probably be the last that you will hear of the X-Men in the story as I am hoping to bring this story to a close soon with the conclusion of this arc. I am sorry to say that I have no drive to write this story, but I am determined to bring it to conclusion.

**Statistics**

Total Hits: 23,888

Total Reviews: 27

Total Hits/Chapter: 2986

Total Reviews/Chapter: 3.37

Total Content Word Count: 12800

This story is on 6 c2s. I thank you for your support!


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